Course description

Modern calligraphy is slow, satisfying and surprisingly learnable: a brush pen, smooth paper and a few simple strokes repeated until they flow. This course teaches you brush pen calligraphy and hand lettering from the very first stroke, and helps you use them for real things: cards, place names, envelopes, a framed print and your own journal pages.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, each with clear numbered steps, a worked example and a short practical exercise. You follow Leticia, an occupational therapy assistant in Wivenhoe, through her first year of lettering, from a frayed pen tip in January to the envelopes and place cards for her sister's wedding, a stall at a makers' market and a framed print for her own hallway. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, a key points sheet and printable practice sheets as PDF and SVG files: guideline sheets at set slants, stroke drills, alphabet exemplars with numbered stroke arrows, tracing pages, layout grids and project templates. Every letter on them was drawn for this course, so they all match.

What you'll learn

• Getting started: what modern calligraphy and hand lettering are, your starter kit, paper that is kind to your pens, posture and grip, and pen care and safety.
• Thick and thin strokes: thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes, guidelines, x-height and slant, the eight basic strokes and a daily drill routine.
• The lowercase alphabet: letter families built from the basic strokes, from i, u and n to the oval letters, the loops, s and z.
• The uppercase alphabet: straight, round and bowl capitals, kept simple, and writing names with them.
• Joining, spacing and slant: connectors, tricky joins and pen lifts, even spacing by eye, and keeping slant, size and pressure steady.
• Bounce, faux calligraphy and your own style: bounce lettering, changing the look of your letters, faux calligraphy with any pen, monoline script for journals and a style sheet of your own.
• Dip pen basics: pointed nibs, holders and inks, preparing a nib, pressure, drills and letters, and nib and ink care.
• Hand lettering and layout: drawing letters in stages, print and serif lettering, hierarchy and thumbnails, and pairing styles.
• Flourishes and projects: simple flourishes, greetings cards, place names and envelopes, a quote print and journal headers.
• Digitising, selling and your final project: scanning and cleaning up your lettering, pricing and selling honestly, and planning and making a final piece.

Who it's for

Crafters who'd like a calm, hands-on hobby, wedding and party DIYers who want to letter their own place names and envelopes, and journallers who want headers they're proud of. You don't need neat handwriting or any art experience, and left-handers are fully covered.

What you'll need

A small starter kit: one large-tip and one small-tip brush pen in black, two fineliners, a pencil, a soft eraser, a ruler and smooth paper. Lesson 1.2 explains each item and what can wait until later. A dip pen kit is optional and only needed for Section 7. A printer helps for the practice sheets, but you can rule your own guidelines.

What will I learn?

• Choose brush pens, fineliners, paper and a dip pen kit, and set up a comfortable, safe place to letter
• Make thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes, and use guidelines, x-height and slant with confidence
• Write the eight basic strokes and build every lowercase letter and capital from them
• Join letters into words with even spacing and a steady slant, size and pressure
• Add bounce, change the look of your lettering and start a style of your own
• Create the look of calligraphy with any pen using faux calligraphy and monoline script
• Prepare, use and care for a pointed nib and ink, including coloured and metallic inks
• Draw print and serif letters, plan layouts with thumbnails, and pair styles in one piece
• Letter greetings cards, place names, envelopes, a quote print and journal headers, with simple flourishes
• Digitise your lettering, price and describe it honestly, and plan and finish a final piece of your own

Frequently asked questions